Not all hope is lost
by PoweredByDarkness
Summary: The female orc warrior Zatrea and her companion Setai, an extraordinary blood elf, are the only remaining soldiers of their group. They are stuck on The Broken Shore which is overrun with demons. Their only hope to survive is to reach the base of the Horde. Unfortunately, the base is on the other side of the island and thousands of demons are in their way. But they won't lose hope.
1. Chapter 1

It all began when the Burning Legion invaded Azeroth for the first time. The mad titan Sargeras became attracted to Azeroth and sent his servants, the evil wicked creatures better known as demons, to conquer this world in his name.

Without a doubt, the inhabitants of Azeroth, in this case, the highborne and the night elves, did their best to defend their world from these corrupted creatures. Sargeras hungered after the power of the Well of Eternity which was protected by Nordrassil, the World Tree of the night elves.

In the end, the Burning Legion was defeated but not without great losses. A lot of highbornes and night elves died during the War of the Ancients and the World Tree and the Well of Eternity were destroyed.

Unfortunately, this invasion was not the only invasion the Burning Legion did over the time. The Burning Legion invaded two more times during the past thousand years. But three attempts were not enough for them. They were coming for the fourth time. But this time, the battle will be a lot harder than during the previous invasions.

The nations which lived on Azeroth had become weaker over time, especially because they had fought against each other instead of living in peace and getting prepared for the fight against a mutual enemy.

They had conquered territories which didn't belong to them, they had purloined goods from others and they had taken lives which shouldn't have been taken.

These nations had weakened each other so much that the Burning Legion had seen another chance to invade Azeroth again. Sargeras knew that the Alliance and the Horde were battling each other most of the time, so he knew that this age was the perfect point of time for another, this time, final invasion.

Sargeras had sent out his servants once again. Hundreds of thousands of demons had arrived on Azeroth months ago. The cooperation between the Alliance and the Horde was everything but perfect from the beginning.

This had allowed Sargeras' army to score a few victories in the first few months. But this had changed after the Alliance and the Horde had put their conflicts aside and had started to fight the Burning Legion together. They had won battle after battle, skirmish after skirmish but their numerous victories weren't enough to drive the Burning Legion out of Azeroth. Even after all these victories a lot of territories were still possessed by the Legion.

One of these territories was The Broken Shore. More than the half of this once beautiful island was possessed by demons while the rest belonged to the inhabitants of Azeroth which were fighting until the very end for their home. Except for a small base, the entire north half of the island belonged to the Burning Legion.

There was a little camp in which the only current enduring skirmish on this island was happening. The entire camp was devastated. The only survivors were a blood elf and an orc. They were surrounded by five dangerous demons but their superior number didn't impress them.

"Dammit" the blood elf hissed when he got hit by the back of a large demon hand. The slap was so forceful that the elf landed on the ground, a quite painful sound slipped out of his lips when his uncovered back came in contact with the uneven, with sharp little spikes covered, ground. He rolled away at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the sharp blade of the massive axe which would have cut him in halves. He got up and dodged the next attack at the last moment, then he jumped backwards to increase the distance between him and the wrathguard

The wrathguard's ugly lips formed a wide grin when he walked forward and regarded the terrified blood elf. The wrathguard enclosed his left hand around the axe's handle and stretched its other hand out after the blood elf, trying to grab him. The elf dodged the grabbing attack at the last moment. He reacted quickly and cut the demon's hand off, his lips formed a small smile when his ears recognized the loud roar and his eyes saw the demon's pain-distorted face. The demon's green eyes were narrowed and looked furiously at the elf who was keeping distance to him.

It charged forward, axe lifted above its head, ready to chop the elf in two halves. The elf with the blood-red dyed hair lifted his silver coloured shield, and held it in front of his body. The shield blocked the attack but it was shattered in the process.

The demon's facial features didn't change, even though the elf was looking at him with surprise and fear written over his face. He was too shocked to move, giving the demon the opportunity to lift his axe once again and prepare the next blow to end the elf's life. But the elf managed to break out of his state of shock and duck beneath the axe swing, thrusting his sharp sword in the demon's belly.

The wrathguard cried out in pain, a large amount of green blood flowed out the wound which dripped on the ground and onto the elf's silver shining armour. The elf thrust the sword deeper in the demon's body, causing that the demon's cries became louder. The elf used holy light to inflict more pain to his foe before he pulled the sword out of the demon's body. He jumped in the air and beheaded the demon which was at least three heads taller than him. The demon's head rolled off his shoulder, landing on the ground. The body followed quickly, dropping to the ground like a wet sack.

A sigh of relief escaped the elf's lips when he regarded the demon's body which dissolved quickly. The paladin was exhausted but he knew that he had not the time to make a pause because his comrade was busy dealing with the other demons. Only three of the once four demons remained because the orc had already killed a felhound while the elf had been busy fighting the wrathguard.

At this very moment, the female orc was fighting against a dreadlord, an inquisitor and a darkhound. The dreadlord was trying to hit her with his sharp claws while the faceless, pale skinned creature without eyes used fel magic against the orc. The shade of the orc's skin colour was a lot lighter than the shade of the icky dark green blood which stuck on her skin, her dark-red coloured armour and on the double blade of her massive axe.

She ducked beneath the dreadlord's massive claws, thrusting her axe in his left upper thigh. He cried out but didn't stop to attack her. One of his sharp fingernails brushed her face, leaving a long cut on her left cheek. A snarl escaped her lips. Her furious eyes were narrowed as she regarded the dreadlord closely. Even though she was observing his every move, she didn't fail to notice the movements of the inquisitor and its darkhound.

The darkhound looked like the evil and distorted version of a dog but it was a lot larger than an average hunting dog. It charged forward and approached the orc who dodged the dreadlord's next attack at his very moment, leaving her no room to react.

Fortunately for the orc, the blood elf reached her and chopped the hound's head off before it was able to bite the orc warrior. The muscular woman gave him a quick nod as she looked at him for a short moment before she turned back to the dreadlord who tried to hit her once again. She parried the attack, the dreadlord's fingernails scratched other axe's double blades. The dreadlord's eyes widened when he noticed that his long fingernails had been cut off by the sharp blades. The orc smiled widely when she saw the demon's shocked face.

The dreadlord bit his bottom lips hard, green blood flowed out of his burst lip, running over his chin and eventually dropping on the depleted ground. The colour of his green eyes became darker, his teeth became sharper than they already were and large wings came out of his body, which also grew in size.

"You will die, you miserable creature. Nobody will stop the Burning Legion" he cried out - his voice sounded raucous.

"We will see" responded the smirking orc and ducked beneath his next strike. She turned around and smashed her axe between the demon's legs. The demon cried out, his eyes threatened to pour out of his eye sockets. His voice was suddenly a lot thinner and sounded very high pitched as he began to curse in the demonic language.

The warrior pressed the axe deeper in the demon's body. She pulled it up with such force that she cut the demon in two almost equal parts. The demon's body was dissolved before it fell to the ground. The grin on the orc's lips became wider, as she stared at the spot where the dreadlord had been standing a few moments ago. The grin faded out of her face when she heard the loud screams of the blood elf.

She turned around immediately, spotting the elf who was lying on the ground and was writhing in pain. The inquisitor was floating above him. Its thin hand pointed at the elf's head. Its ugly mouth showed some sort of a disgusting smile. Green saliva dripped from the demon's deformed teeth. It turned its head when it heard the orc's loud stamping steps, even though it had no ears.

"Hold out Setai" the orc cried out and charged at the skinny demon, thrusting her axe in its chest. The demon's voice was shrill and very loud as it cried out in pain. Setai's body immediately stopped shaking and writhing in pain. The warrior shoved the axe deeper in the demon's upper body, a lot of blood splashed out of the deep wound onto the orc's face, skin and armour. She closed her eyes to prevent that any drops of it in would get in her eyes.

The demon's cries became louder, it tried hard but it was not able to defend itself. Its final move, before it died, was to cast a felbolt which hit the orc's left hip. The technique destroyed the piece of armour, which protected her left hip, with ease. It also brushed against her skin, leaving a deep ugly-looking wound. The orc gritted her teeth, preventing that a loud cry came out her throat. Instead, a dampened sound was hearable.

She used the sudden boost of anger to pull the axe out of the demon's body with such a force that the inquisitor's body was torn apart. Like the bodies of its defeated comrades, its body dissolved quickly and was pulled back in the Twisting Nether.

A loud cry of victory escaped the female's lips, as she held her axe above her head, lifting it up and down as if it was a barbell. She stopped celebrating when her ears recognized the painful sounds of the blood elf who was still lying a few feet away from her. She dropped her axe and rushed to the elf, carefully lifting his upper body a bit.

She scrutinized his body, noticing that the only injury he was having was the deep cut in his back. She had never fought against an inquisitor before but she was assuming that it had inflicted a lot of psychological pain to the elf. His eyes were widened and had trouble to focus on the same spot. His pale face was distorted in pain and his body was shaking. These signs confirmed Zatrea's assumption.

She said his name but he didn't answer. She shook him slightly, trying to get his attention somehow but he didn't react to any of her attempts. She took a flask from her belt, removed the fastening and pressed the opening against his lips. She tilted his head back, forcing him to drink the blue liquid. She knew that the liquid wasn't tasting good and was smelling pretty badly but Setai was not in the position to complain about anything.

Setai's body relaxed eventually. His eyelids closed, his breaths became slow and steady. A small smile appeared on the orc's lips when he fell asleep in her arms.

Setai awoke a few hours later. A painful cry escaped his lips when he lifted his upper body to quickly. He sunk back in the sleeping bag, relaxing as his back stopped hurting. He turned his head a little and spotted the orc after a few moments. Zatrea was sitting on a block of wood and was warming her hands on a little campfire made out of smaller blocks of wood and thick branches. She turned her head when she noticed him staring, a sigh of relief escaped her lips. She returned his staring for a short moment, giving him a relieved smile before she looked back at the campfire.

"You are still alive" spoke the orc, her voice sounded hoarse.

"What happened, Zatrea?" asked Setai, lifting his upper body carefully so that he was able to look at her through a better angle. He wasn't able to remember much of the battle, only that he had killed two demons before he had lost his consciousness.

"A bunch of demons surprised us when we were erecting a small camp" responded Zatrea. She put a skinned rabbit on a stick and held it above the fire. She stared at the food she was about to prepare, not noticing that the elf kept staring at her.

"How many demons?"

"Eight dreadlords, seven wrathguards, three hounds, two inquisitors, and about twenty other demons"

"Who survived?"

"Just us" she responded quietly and glared sadly at the blood elf.

"Are you serious?" asked Setai. His eyes were widened in shock, his throat felt dry and his heart skipped a beat.

"I'm not joking about this"

He stared at her for a few minutes, not saying anything. "I see" he said eventually and looked at his feet, not knowing what to say in return.

"And the Alliance?" he asked quietly. As a member of the Horde, he was not a fan about working with the Alliance. But wasn't wishing for their deaths because he knew that the Horde needed their help against the Legion - even though he didn't want to admit it that the Horde required their aid. So, he was hoping that the members of the Alliance were still alive.

"They were the first victims of the surprise attack. All twelve night elves died in the first few hours. Even Commander Shandris Feathermoon's best friend Salia Moonwhisperer had not the smallest chance against their strongest dreadlord. After the demons had slaughtered the Alliance, they went for us. Dane Cooper's soul was torn out of his body by their Jailer and sucked in its cage" she explained.

"Damn it, he was the only mage of our group. It didn't like him at all, especially because he was a Forsaken, but he was the only one who could have brought us out of this miserable place"

"It seems that we have to find another way out of here. It would be pretty hard to get back to our base. We have lost our warlock and our demon hunter as well. They were the only ones who knew this area pretty well. Even our troll hunter Ze'than could have guided us because his hound could have tracked our footprints. Unfortunately, we lost him as well"

"This is not good"

"You are right, it doesn't look good for us"

"I see" he responded and made a small pause, looking at his fingers. "I think that my memory is returning slowly"

"What do you remember?" asked Zatrea, an eyebrow was raised in interest but also in worry.

"Vella's death" Setai responded with a sad sounding voice. His head hung low like his ears. Zatrea noticed that he was trying hard to hold tears back. His face was still pale, his bottom lip was burst because he had bitten on it since Zatrea had started explaining.

"I'm so sorry. I knew that she had meant a lot for you". She made a small pause and looked at her fingers as she continued to speak with a much quieter voice. "I know how it is to lose a really important person"

"Who did you lose?"

Zatrea didn't respond at first. She just stared at her gauntleted hands and figured out what she should say. She responded eventually after being silent for a few minutes. "My brother"

Setai's facial expression became sadder than it already was. He observed her carefully, almost overlooking the barely recognizable tear which ran down her cheek. She wiped it away and remained silent.

"You had a brother? We know each other since a few years but you never told me about your family" the paladin spoke quietly.

"It's hard to speak about his death" she sobbed and wiped another tear out of her face. He was surprised to see normally the strong and unshakable woman so vulnerable. He had thought until this very day that Zatrea was an emotionless warrior who killed only for glory and honour and gave a fuck about feelings. But now he was realizing that she was different. She was a real living being who had emotions just like everyone else.

"Do you want to talk about him?" asked Setai, showing sympathy.

"Not now"

Setai chuckled. "I don't think that we have much time left. I don't think that we will hold out more than a few days against those demons which are hiding in bordering areas"

"We have to believe and hold out as long as we can. We will slay as many of these bastards as we can. I will speak about my brother one day but not now"

"I will respect your decision" responded Setai and gave her a small smile.

"Anyways. I'm sorry about Vella. I have tried to save her but a wrathguard had blocked my way. I came too late, the dreadlord had finished her before I was able to reach her". Zatrea stood up and walked to the elf, sitting down next to him. She rested her hand on his left shoulder, tapping it softly. She gave him a weak smile, running her hand through her red dreadlocks.

"Are you hungry?" the orc asked and pointed at the roasted rabbit.

"Not at all"

"So, you wouldn't mind if I eat the whole rabbit?"

"I don't mind at all. The battle must have exhausted even you. You killed a lot of demons so you deserve it"

"You fought pretty well too. You deserve it as well"

Setai chuckled "If rolling over the floor also counts as fighting, then, of course, I did well". He put a lock of blood-red dyed hair behind his ear, smiling nervously.

"You should stop putting yourself down. You are a very skilled fighter. You have slain a lot of demons over the past months. I'm glad that we have fought together and protected each other over the past months" she responded and gave him a warm smile. She bit in the rabbit's back, tasting the delicious meat. Her brown eyes rested on him while she was eating her food.

"If you think so" he responded, receiving an eye-rolling from the muscular woman. He looked at her, noticing for the first time that a lot of blood stuck on her armour. He didn't know how much time had passed since he had lost his consciousness but it didn't seem that she had the time to clean her armour. His eyes trailed to the piece of bandage which covered her left hip.

"How is your wound?" he spoke and pointed at her hip.

"Better than it looks" she responded and pulled the bandage up a little, allowing Setai to see the burn wound which had been caused by the felbolt. Setai didn't need to look twice to know that meaning that this wound, which was as large as his hand, would never heal because the body cells had been totally destroyed by the fel.

"This doesn't look very good, Zatrea" he spoke, giving her a look of worry.

"I have suffered worse wounds" she responded and devoured the last piece of meat.

"Maybe, but these wounds have healed over time. You know as well that this wound will never heal not to mention that it will be visible forever.

"I'm a big girl. I can take it. Thrust me. I will get used to it" the brave orc responded and gave the elf a small, convincing smile.

"I hope you do. I'm worried that this wound will be in your way when we have to face more of these ugly creatures. They will come for us sooner or later if nobody rescues us"

"I don't think that someone will look for us. Our last reported has arrived in Orgrimmar a few weeks ago. We have been ordered to send a report every week. We haven't been able to send a report for two weeks. I'm pretty sure that the Banshee Queen assumes that we are dead. Nobody will come for us"

"I still have hope" the paladin responded. He removed one of his gauntlets and ran his fingers through his long hair.

"We will need more than just hope if we want to get out of this area alive" spoke Zatrea and stared in the fire, holding her hands above the flames to warm them.

"You are right. Luck and hope won't help us at all" he responded and looked around, noticing that night had already fallen. The shining moon was barely visible because the treetops covered it. The night was colder than the elf had expected. He was shivering even though he was directly sitting in front of the campfire.

He was wondering if Zatrea's armour was the reason why she wasn't shivering. He thought about it but came to the conclusion that the armour wouldn't warm her body. Maybe it was her orcish body which allowed her to bear the cold better than every other creature.

Setai remained silent. He was just looking at the warrior who was still warming her hands. She looked at him for short moments from time to time but other than that, she didn't pay attention to what he was doing. He leaned against a tree trunk with his side so that he was able to relax a little without causing that his back got hurt. He closed his eyes and opened them after a while, not knowing how much time had passed.

He looked at the orc, finding out that she was still sitting next to him. She looked a bit tired, covering her mouth with her hand whenever she yawned.

"You should get some rest, Zatrea. You have been up for a while. You need your well-deserved rest" he said and looked at the orc who was about to protest. But Setai was fast and spoke to her with a convincing and soft voice. "I have rested for a while but you haven't. You won't be able to fight the demons if you can barely keep your eyes open. Please, close your eyes and sleep for a few hours at least"

Her response sounded more like a groan than an actual agreement. She took her gauntlets off and put them behind the block of wood. She removed her upper body armour and put it on the same spot. Her muscular upper arms were revealed, only her torso was covered by clothing.

Even though she was sitting next to Setai, she didn't notice that he was staring at her. His gaze rested on her upper arms for a few moments before it shifted to her face. He had to admit that she looked very pretty for an orc. Although orc women weren't his type, he had to admit that he felt a slight attraction for her. Unlike his companion, he noticed that he was staring at her, so he turned his head away before he got any inappropriate ideas.

Zatrea continued to get ready for bed. She pulled the necklace with the symbol of the Horde over her head and stuffed it in one of her bag's side pockets. She laid her sleeping bag out slipped into it, resting her head on a soft little pillow. She looked at her companion one more time before she closed her eyes.

"Good night" she whispered and snuggled into the warm sleeping bag.

"Sleep tight" muttered the paladin and stared into the flames.


	2. Chapter 2

She opened her eyes, noticing that there was no sunlight which shined on this miserable place and could dazzle her. She noticed when she looked around that she was still in the middle of the only forest she had seen on this miserable and ruined island. She looked at the burned-out campfire. Only the ashes of the wood remained on the provisional campfire site. Her gaze shifted to the red-haired blood elf who was busy cleaning her armour.

"You don't need to do that" she said, giving him a barely recognizable but grateful smile.

"It's okay, I have nothing else to do" he responded and wiped over the breastplate with a sponge.

"Where'd you get the water?" she asked interestedly and pointed at the bucket filled with water.

"There is a small lake in the near"

"Have you checked if it isn't infested by the demons?" she asked, a hint of worry was hearable in her voice.

"Of course, I've tested the water. This is not my first mission where I have to survive in a territory possessed by demons" he seemed to be a bit hurt because she had assumed that he had forgotten to make such an essential check.

"So, you have scooped enough water so that we are able to survive a few days?" she asked and pulled herself up.

His response sounded a bit pessimistic. "Not having any water left and dying of thirst is not the most likely cause of death in our case"

"Stop being like this" the orc spoke, her voice sounded a lot rougher and stricter. She was wondering where the change of behaviour came from. Yesterday, he had been so motivated to destroy the Burning Legion but now he seemed to be depressed. She hated it when the elf was behaving like this and was indicating that their lifetime was limited because of the many threats on this island.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not looking up at his interlocutor.

"You have become very negative since you found out that our entire group was killed. We won't get out alive if you keep behaving like this"

"I can pretend to be full of hope but that doesn't change anything. The chance for our survival is pretty low" he spoke, sounding sad. He appeared to have lost his fighting spirits, his self-confidence and his hopes. Zatrea shook her head slightly and got up, walking over to the depressed elf. He didn't even look up at her when she put her strong hand on his left shoulder. She frowned and ran her hand through her dreadlocks, figuring out what to do to get his attention.

She took her armour away from him, returning his gaze when he looked up at her and stared in her brown eyes. "What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing" he muttered and leaned to his right side to reach his bag with the tips of his fingers. He pulled his bag to him and pulled out his red bread bin. He removed the cover, taking a smeared piece of bread out. He shoved the slice in his mouth, savouring the delicious taste of cream cheese.

"I didn't know that you still have supplies" she spoke, giving him a slightly surprised look.

"Well, this was my last slice of bread" he told and put the bread bin back in his cloth bag.

"Oh"

"We have to find something to eat but there are almost no animals or eatable plats in our near. The little forest is the only remaining form of vegetation on the north half of this miserable island. It's a real miracle that it hasn't been touched by the fire which had ravaged this area" he spoke, sounding a lot more confident than a few minutes earlier. She didn't know why his behaviour had changed this time but she was glad about that. She knew that it would have been a lot harder for her to survive if she would have had to take care of a depressed elf.

"We will find a solution. In case of necessity, we will preserve the bodies of a few demons before they dissolve, and eat them". She giggled when she saw the stunned expression on the elf's face. His lips were parted but no sound slipped out of them. "It was just a joke. Don't take it too seriously" she said and laughed.

He needed a few moments to regain his composure. "I hope that you are really just joking. I don't think that there is a fire in this world which could roast the flesh of one of these ugly creatures. Especially because their bodies are very used to felfire which belongs to the most powerful kinds of fires in the universe"

"Relax, Setai. I would rather eat my own arm than to taste one of these fel-spitting creatures"

"Err, I don't want to think about this either" he told, making a disgusted face. Zatrea chuckled and rubbed his left shoulder.

"Where is the lake?" she asked, breaking the silence which had lasted for five minutes. Setai didn't respond verbally to her question, he just turned a little and pointed in the east.

"Thank you" she whispered and squeezed his shoulder. She walked to the other side of the campfire and picked her axe up. She told him that she would take a quick bath to clean her body from the sticky demon blood which still stuck on her skin. The blood elf nodded and told her that she should be careful because demons could be everywhere. Zatrea gave him a thankful smile and walked towards the direction he had pointed at.

Setai waited until he wasn't able to see her anymore, then he dipped the sponge in the bucket of water and continued to clean Zatrea's armour. He sat there for a while, cleaning her armour as best as possible.

Suddenly, he heard a loud scream. He jumped up jerkily and grabbed his sword and shield, rushing to the east from where he had heard the scream. He heard another scream when had covered half of the distance to the lake.

He began to run faster when he realized that these sounds came from Zatrea. He came to the lake and spotted the orc which was surrounded by three large demons.

She was standing in the middle of the lake, which surface reached to her hip. She was holding her axe in her hands. Her upper body was wet and completely exposed. She didn't seem to care about this because she was busy fighting the demons.

Setai was trying to not stare any longer at her exposed breasts and muscular stomach. It didn't work pretty well and he found himself blushing because of it.

He knew that this was not the time for such inappropriate behaviour. He slapped his forehead hard enough to pull himself together. He stopped staring at the orc's exposed skin and rushed to the nearest demon which's back was turned to him. He rammed his sword in the wrathguard's back, his lips formed a wide grin when his ears recognized the wrathguard's loud and painful screams. He pulled his sword out of the demon's back, cutting off its legs before it was able to turn around and attack him. He beheaded the demon before its upper body landed in the water.

He looked at the orc, noticing that she had managed to kill the second demon. The last remaining creature was a massive felgreen core hound. The double-headed beast looked like a giant cross-breeding of a dog and a demon. The left head of the demonic creature barked while the second head bared its teeth. Zatrea stayed calm and regarded the creature's every move with narrowed eyes. Her hands held her axe tightly. She was ready to strike. Ready to kill this ugly monstrosity. But the creature was ready as well. Ready to jump on her and tear her head apart.

The paladin tried to get the creature's attention by insulting it and shouting at it but the core hound didn't turn around, nor did it stop moving towards the warrior. The hound stamped its feet on the ground before it rushed to the orc.

Zatrea jumped to the side and prevented that the demon would have rammed her. The creature turned around and lifted its left foreleg to ward off the axe swing with the shin pad which was made out of pure iron. The piece of armour prevented that the orc's axe would have cut the demon's leg off but it got seriously damaged in return. The orc knew, without looking closer at shin pad, that it wouldn't protect the demon for a second time.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Setai was rushing towards the demon but she knew that he wouldn't able to kill it before it would attack for the second time.

The demon leaped forwards, his left foreleg hit Zatrea, causing that she was flung away. A painful scream escaped her lips when she landed with her back on the stony dry ground. She ignored the pain caused by the ugly looking wound in her right arm. She didn't know what had happened but she assumed that one of the many spikes, which covered the demon's body, had bored its way into her flesh.

She gritted her teeth, pulling herself up which required a lot of strength. She was holding her axe in one hand because she wasn't able to move her other arm without crying out in pain.

She looked at the demon and noticed for the first time that corrosive saliva was dripping out of the hound's jaw. She knew that the saliva etched everything which got hit by it, meaning neither her or the paladin should get hit by this disgusting liquid. This meant that she had to avoid the beast's jaws, which was easier said than done.

She managed to avoid all of its biting attacks but was hit by a bash with one of the demon's claws. Lucky for her, it had only hit her back and not her face or her exposed front. Deep claw marks were visible on her back, blood flowed out of the fresh, ugly-looking wound. She ignored the massive amount of pain, which was caused by her wounds, and lifted her axe above her head.

She dodged the next attack from the demon and rammed her axe into its left head. A loud cry was hearable out of the jaw of the left head before it was silenced forever. A loud bark was hearable from the other head before it was chopped off by the paladin's blessed sword.

The core hound's body flinched before it fell over and stopped moving. The orc threw her arms in the air as she cheered, totally forgetting that one of her arms was heavily wounded. Her facial expression reflected the pain she was feeling at the very moment where her barely moveable arm was stretched out.

She lowered her arms immediately, pressing her hand on the ugly hole in her right upper arm to stop the bleeding. Somehow, she didn't notice that the water was soiled through the demon blood.

"This is not a good idea, Zatrea. You are only making it worse if you are rubbing contaminated water in your wounds. Hold still, I will take care of your injuries" the blood elf said.

It took a lot of effort for him to not stare at her exposed upper body. He only managed it because his eyes focused on her lovely face. The orc nodded and walked towards the edge of the lake, stopping suddenly.

"Is something?" asked Setai, wondering why she was making an embarrassed face. Then he lowered his gaze and blushed when he noticed that she was wearing nothing but brown leather panties. He shifted his gaze to his feet, seeing out of the corner of his eyes that she was wrapping a towel around her lower body. Setai looked up after she had told him that he was allowed to look again.

Zatrea sat on the ground, her wounded back was turned to him while she was crossing her arms in front of her chest. The elf sat down behind her and removed his gauntlets. He put his hands on her wound, making sure that his touch wasn't hurting her. His hands began to shine golden, holy light was radiated by them and began to treat her wounds.

It took half an hour for the paladin to close the wound on her back and lower the amount of pain she was feeling.

"The wound is closed but you can assume that a scar will be left. Now hold still while I take care of this ugly upper arm wound" he said and put his hands on her right upper arm. He closed his eyes as he felt the light which flooded his body and helped him to close this threatening wound.

He opened his eyes after he was done, noticing that the orc had turned her head and was looking at him. She turned around, arms still crossed in front of her chest, and gave him a thankful smile. The noticed the penetrating smell of sweat and dried demon blood which came from her body. She smelled after an intense battle but it didn't bother him even though the smell was very unpleasant.

The tips of her little tusks in her lower jaw slightly pointed at her nose when she gave him a smile. "Thank you for helping me" she said and came closer. She wrapped her arms around his back when she gave him a quick hug.

A deep blush appeared on Setai's face, his eyes widened and he was biting his bottom lip hard. He hadn't expected that she would hug him for healing her, especially because she was an orc. Normally, orcs didn't do such things as hugging others who weren't a member of their clan.

Zatrea pulled away and chuckled when she saw the surprised face he was making. She tilted her head a little and pointed at the contaminated lake. "We should find another source of water. We could need a bath and more drinkable water. There is a small stretch of coast in the west if I remember correctly. Hopefully, the water there is not polluted"

"So, we are traveling to it first before we return to the base?"

"Yes, we should do that. We need water and we have to get rid of the smelling demon blood. The demons can find us easier if the blood keeps sticking on our skins. Unless you have a better idea"

"No, I have no other idea, to be honest. We should look for this little coast"

"I need to put my clothes and armour on first... Would you mind..." spoke Zatrea and hinted that she wanted to get dressed. A slight blush appeared on Setai's cheeks, then he banished the inappropriate thoughts out of his mind. He turned around and looked in the entirely opposite direction, only looking back at her after she had given him permission.

She was wearing a thick leather vest which covered her entire upper body except for her cleavage and her muscular arms. The elf found himself staring at her cleavage and her astonishing muscular arms. He shook his head slightly. His face came redder than it already was.

He cleared his throat, signalizing that he wanted to go to the little camp and prepare their onward journey. Zatrea chuckled and picked her axe from the ground, following him quickly.

They walked back to their camp, packing their things as fast as possible. They covered their tracks, making sure that one body would find out that they had rested there.

They left the little forest after a walk of about twenty minutes, coming into an area which looked as miserable as the rest of the island.

The ground was very uneven, friable and contained a lot of holes. Around the edge of the forest was a thick circle of wood remains which had been burned by natural fire and demonic felfire. Most of these remains were stumps of once gigantic and magnificent trees which had been around on this island for hundreds or even thousands of years.

These trees had fallen victim to the Burning Legion like the rest of the vegetation on this island. The entire island, which had once belonged to the most beautiful places on Azeroth, had become a wretched place which was overrun with demons. The name Broken Shore fitted perfectly.

Setai regarded the burned forest and the burned ground for a few moments before he turned around and looked at the orc who was making an impassive face. As an orc, she had not the same connection to nature as the blood elf, so she was not as sad as him about the loss.

It was depressing for him to see that these once beautiful trees were as destroyed as the rest of this island. A sad sigh escaped his lips when he regarded the remains of the forest. Zatrea gave him a comforting look and signalized him to keep walking. He nodded quickly and followed her.

They walked more careful and slower than usual because they didn't want to attract the attention of any demon which could be in their near. They had to make a few detours to avoid demon patrols and small bases which were filled with these wicked creatures. In the end, they needed twice the time they had expected but they reached their destination without getting interrupted by any foe.

At this very moment, they were standing on top of a small mountain and looked over the coast around the mountain's foot. The coast was uneven and a few rocks were sticking out of the yellow sand.

There were a few wreckages rising up out of the water, remains of similar ships laid separately on the sand. To their relief, there weren't any demons in the near. But their absence didn't mean that no foes were around. The elf and the orc saw about two to three dozen naga which were claiming the coast and the seashore as their territory.

They spotted at least three patrols. Each patrol consisted out of three naga with tridents and two spellcasters. They also saw a few naga brutes, which were about two hundred up to three hundred fifty feet tall. They had six eyes, three on each side of their ugly faces. Unlike the other, smaller naga, their scales had a dark purple colour instead of light-blue.

The orc and the elf didn't need to check their surroundings twice to know that they would never get to the other side alive - Not with so many naga which would attack them as soon as they spot them.

"Well, there is the clean water we've been looking for but we won't able to reach it without getting killed" said Zatrea and looked around, trying to find a way to reach the coast without getting noticed by any naga.

"I wish that Dane would be still with us. He would have made us invisible so we would have cleaned ourselves without getting spotted"

"Sadly, he is gone. I didn't know him at all but he was a very funny guy. Not as funny as Kean but at least funnier than most of the members of the Horde and Alliance I have met over the years" the orc told as she stared at the naga, having a thoughtful look on her face.

"I miss all members of our group. I haven't gotten known to the new ones so I didn't know half of our group but they didn't deserve to die by demons, Also, I hadn't wished that the Alliance got slaughtered like cattle. I may not like the Alliance but that doesn't mean that they deserve to get killed by these miserable creatures"

"You are right, Setai. They deserve to die a glorious death by the soldiers of the Horde. It's degrading to die by the hands of the wicked demons"

"The demons will pay for killing our team. Gul'dan and all other commanders of the Burning Legion will suffer for trying to invade Azeroth once again"

"You are right. We will make them pay for their actions" responded Zatrea and put her hand on Setai's left shoulder, giving him a confident look. The corner of her lips formed a small smile.

Setai shook his head slightly, his eyes were narrowed when he regarded the former allies of the Burning Legion. His normally handsome facial features were distorted by anger and hatred. "They took my sister... She was so young and innocent... And they murdered her..." he whispered quietly. He was staring at the ground, sadness and grieve were written all over his face.

The orc rubbed his left shoulder and spoke in a smooth and comforting voice to him. "I didn't really know Vella. I have only spoken with her a few times but I have gotten the impression that she cared about every single creature on Azeroth. Even though she belonged to the Horde, she didn't shrink back to help the Alliance. She didn't saw them as our enemies, she regarded them more as possible friends who could help us against the Legion. I know that we need the Alliance's help to win against the Legion but that doesn't mean that we have to make them to our friends. We are enemies after all but your sister had a different opinion about the Alliance"

"I know. Vella was different. She always saw the good thing in every creature, no matter how wicked it was. She was such an innocent girl. She was only fifty years old which is nothing for a blood elf. Most blood elves reach the thousandth year of life, a lot of them become older by a lot. At least if no wars would happen which are robbing a lot of innocent lives. I have tried to convince Vella to stay at home with our family but she insisted on fighting the Legion and going with me on this mission... If only I would have tried harder to convince her to stay at home... She would still be alive..." he spoke. His voice sounded sad. Tears were built in the corner of his eyes.

"You shouldn't blame yourself for this" whispered Zatrea and came closer to him, putting an arm around his shoulder. "It was her choice to go with you and the Legion's fault that she died. We will make them pay for everything they have done. The enslavement of my people, the creation of the Scourge, the many invasions, the numerous deaths of innocent people and so on. We will repel the Legion and save our world... with the help of the Alliance if it's necessary"

"You are right" he responded and wiped the tears away. The Horde and the Alliance will be victorious even if we don't survive this scenario"

"We will fight to our last breaths"

"So, you won't be fighting for too long" inferred a strange voice. The orc and the elf turned around immediately. Their eyes widened when they saw what was running toward them.


End file.
